About the Author(s)

Born in Nakuru, Kenya, David G. Allan’s family moved to Johannesburg when he was nine years old. His tertiary education began with a BA in law, obtained at Wits in 1981. After working as a nature conservation officer for a year, he switched fields and studied part-time to obtain a first-class Honours Degree in Zoology from the University of the Witwatersrand, followed by an M.Sc on the ecology of large terrestrial birds in the Western Cape from the University of Cape Town in 1994. In 1996, David became the Curator of Ornithology at the Durban Natural Science Museum, a position he held until his retirement in 2021. As a curator, he pursued various research interests, including a long-term study of the birdlife of Durban Bay. David has been the author of several books and has published more than 400 papers on southern African birds, including 200 scientific papers of which about 70 are in peer-reviewed journals. He has also authored species accounts for several bird handbooks, including the two-volume The Atlas of Southern African Birds, Roberts’ Birds of Southern Africa, and the Handbook of the Birds of the World. In recognition of David’s outstanding lifetime contributions to southern African ornithology, he was awarded the prestigious Gill Memorial Award in 2021, Birdlife South Africa’s highest accolade bestowed on an individual. David can be reached at ovampensis1958@gmail.com.